This invention refers to a furniture hinge having an innovative solution in the spring-operated closing mechanism. In particular, the innovative disposition of the mechanism makes it possible to obtain "gently" closing compact hinges.
For many years widespread use has been made of articulated furniture hinges provided with a spring-operated mechanism which enables the door to close automatically. Among these are some particularly interesting hinges from the commercial point of view which close "gently", that is to say which snap shut only at the last few degrees of closure, while remaining free for the remaining span of the movement. Various configurations of positioning and action of the spring-operated mechanism are known in the known technique. For example, use is very often made of a torsion spring wound round the pivot pin of the upper link rod of the hinge to act upon a cam protrusion on the lower link rod.
These configurations, however, call for relatively large space inside the wing. In particular, they call for a relatively large space between the pivot of the lower cam and the ceiling of the wing, such space having to accommodate the spring and the cam protrusion and permit their movement. This restricts the design of the hinge enormously, since the pivoting of the link rod has to be positioned well below the pivoting of the other arm, around which the spring is wound. This results in considerable limitation to the kinematic performance of the hinge. This inconvenience is all the more critical the smaller the hinge is. With the known solutions it is therefore virtually impossible to obtain "gently-closing" hinges of limited dimensions. For hinges of very limited dimensions it is consequently necessary to do without the "gentle" closure. The only expedient has been to place a leaf spring outside the wing, resulting in considerable problems in assembling the hinge as well as aesthetical problems.
The general scope of this invention is to obviate the aforementioned problems, by providing a hinge with a spring-operated closing mechanism which, while retaining its features of "gentle" closure, makes it possible to produce a hinge of very limited dimensions, advantageously also providing extensive freedom in the positioning of the spring-operated mechanism and outstanding kinematic efficiency.